38 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



weeds of arable land on light, sandy soils. It produces an abundance 

 of seed and often invades corn and root crops, and may smother out 

 crops sown in spring and summer. In garden cultivation thorough hoe- 

 ing must' be practised to keep it down, and strenuous efforts must be 

 made' to prevent seeding. Its presence is considered to be a sign of the 

 absence of lime, and hence lime should be employed. Spurrey may 

 be destroyed by spraying with 50 gallons to the acre of a 5 per cent, 

 solution of copper sulphate. Feeding off with sheep is also useful, and 

 it may be remarked that Spurrey is grown as a fodder crop on the 

 Continent. 



The cotyledons are long (about ^ inch) and narrow (almost cylin- 

 drical), entire, fleshy and smooth, and the true leaves are small and 

 fine, awl-shaped with a slight groove below, and ^ to 1| inch long 

 (fig. 10). The leaves of the young seedling at first give it a tufted 

 appearance, but later are arranged in whorls around the thickened joints 



Fig. 8. — Seedling of Shepherd's Puese (Capsella Bursa-Pastoris L.). 

 a, early stage; b, second stage; c, third stage. Natural size. 



of the stem, which is long and slender. The flowers appear from June 

 to August, are white, ^ inch in diameter, and in loose terminal clusters. 

 The seed capsules are nearly globular. 



Cleavers is a well-known straggling annual hook-climber, often 

 called goose-grass, hariff, cliders, grip-grass, and similar expressive 

 names. It attains a considerable height by climbing amongst other and 

 stronger plants, and for this reason is often a great trouble. It is 

 especially troublesome among cereals and certain garden crops. 

 Thorough surface cultivation and hoeing throughout spring and summer 

 are necessary to eradicate this weed. 



The cotyledons (fig. 11) are -rather large (J in. long) and broadly 

 oval, smoothed, notched or indented at the end, and shortly stalked. 

 The first true leaves appear in whorls of four to six, and thereafter of 

 six to eight. They are narrow and lanceolate, ^ to 2 inches long, and 

 very rough, as indeed is the stem, which has numerous small inverted 



